


Ectblepharon

by orphan_account



Category: Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
Genre: Eye Trauma, F/M, I dont think Joshua actually has no eye under that hat but its a cool concept lol, Mild Gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-16
Updated: 2017-11-16
Packaged: 2019-02-03 08:25:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12744636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: He was in an arena when it happened. Even though he was fully aware he still had one eye left, it was as if he’d gone completely blind in that moment.





	Ectblepharon

It was a tiring process to upkeep, though nowadays second nature. It was just easier when you were a mercenary troupe that slept separate, instead of a tent you had to share with another person. Or even three. Joshua was luckily the former. But it was still exhausting, adjusting to another’s sleep schedule that was ever changing due to the war. And perhaps he may have been the cause of it, a few times. But he’d managed to hide it thus far, so he wasn’t particularly worried. Not that he really thought he needed to hide it, but it was for the better.

At the very least, if he was still sleeping, the eyelid would be closed.

Stretching, poor excuse of a bedsheet falling to his waist, Joshua sighs as he tries to fully wake himself up. It always took a few minutes, but that’s what he gets for forcing himself to wake early. He’s about to reach up to untie his hair, braided to keep it neat considering they didn’t often have water to wash with on hand, when the tent flap is pushed aside. He realizes too late that there had been the closest thing to a knock, but his sleep-dulled senses had missed it.

“Good mo--” Natasha freezes in her place, looking a tad bit more worn and pallid than usual. Or she did before her eyes widened, and Joshua’s did as well.

The one he still has, anyhow.

Immediately, his hand rushes to pull down his hat. Even if it were there, little it would have done. He curses internally, looking around for where he put it. He’d tossed it by the foot of his cot going to bed last night. Well…

“Good morning to you too.” Joshua says smoothly and pulls his hand away, making an effort to keep his right eyelids closed. Only eyelids. “Need something? It’s pretty early.”

Best act like it was nothing, she would probably follow along. Probably.

“I...couldn’t sleep, I was just…walking, and I thought--” Natasha clears her throat. “I-I’m sorry, I should’ve waited for a reply. Please excuse me--”

“I don’t mind, if that’s what you’re worried about.” He grins.

She freezes, still partially leaned in the tent, teeth digging into her lips. “I... Regardless, it’s clear you...didn’t want this to be seen.”

Yes and no, he thinks. Had he a choice, Joshua would just leave it as is. But unsurprisingly, having an empty eye socket tended to scare people away. It was clean, with only a shallow, short scar from his tear duct to his eyebrow. It wasn’t a mess of blood and gore like it had been, when it happened. But well, he couldn’t particularly blame them either. It was startling at best, disgusting at worst. It had a tendency to stay closed, so the missing eye couldn’t be seen. But being stuck in a permanent wink had led him into bad situations before.

(And then there were his fellow mercenaries, who thought it a good conversation piece. Joshua had found it upsetting at first, but gradually grew to be able to joke about it as well. There was no point dwelling on it.)

“Preferably, but I’ve got no problem with you knowing.”

“... Would you mind if I looked closer?”

“... Sure?”

It’d taken him off guard, no one had ever... Well, he had no problem with that either, he supposes. Careful to close the flap behind her, ceasing it from letting the chilly morning air in further, she sits close to him on her knees. Used to the desert heat, even that light breeze was too frigid and he longed to go back under the covers.

(Or maybe a small part of him didn’t want her to get close).

He hasn’t opened it yet, even when she leans forward. She already saw it open, when she came in, but up close it was…

(It’d taken him ages to be able to look at it himself. He valued his appearance too much.)

“You sure? It’s not pretty.”

“I’m sure I’ve seen worse.” Natasha has the same look she has when she’s analyzing injuries, this must be no different to her.

With a shrug, Joshua lets it open and keeps his other on her expression. There’s a brief shock on her features, before they slip back to normal. She must be one of the rare people who find it fascinating, rather than horrifying, gaze slowly moving from area to area. He knows what it looks like, a soft and pinky wall of flesh beneath his lashes

He feels her thumb press towards his water line for a moment, and for a kind of pathetic, though somewhat humorous, moment, he almost leaned into it. Her nail catches on the raised skin of the scar, and it makes her pull her hand away.

“Does it...still hurt?”

“Not anymore, not really.”

(Sometimes, it feels as though it’s still there. And he swears he can feel it hurt, or even see from it. Of course, he’s knows it’s false, it was just impossible to ignore.)

“... Did it hurt when it happened?”

Joshua closes his good eye, sighing through his nose.

(He was in an arena when it happened. Even though he was fully aware he still had one eye left, it was as if he’d gone completely blind in that moment. He drops his sword, then to his knees. Hand roaming, as if to find it again, as if that would help. As if a dirtied eyeball could be placed back in its socket. It’s searing through this skull, only shock keeping the excruciating pain at bay. And he’s feeling a panic he’s only felt a few times before. The crowd was still cheering.)

“You’re awfully curious, aren’t you?”

While it was actually more endearing than rude, the cleric did have a tendency to be nosy. Or as he’d prefer to put it, always needing to know everything.

“I just... Of all the injuries I’ve seen, then and now, I’ve never seen this before…”

In the back of her mind, she wonders what kind of attack could have possibly done that to him. She was rather adjusted to the more disturbing things that could happen to bodies, not nearly as easily flustered as one would think for her nature. But trying to picture what possibly happened to him only makes her want to gag.

“If this were to happen to someone else, I’d want to be prepared.” Natasha adds quietly. “I don’t ever want to see this happen to someone else.”

“I’d think an injury like this is a lost cause.”

“We don’t know that.” She’d seen broken bones reconnect and organs pull themselves back together, the limits to healing magic weren’t yet known. “None of papers back home spoke of injuries like this, perhaps…

... Of course I knew I can’t...do anything for it. Not now. But I wish I could.”

“Heh, that’s what you’re worried about? I appreciate it, but it’s totally fine. I’m used to being without it.”

“Was a healer not present at the time…?... If you still had the eye...”

“Still have it? You think I wear it around on a necklace or something?”

It was his attempt to lighten the mood, as this wasn’t so serious as she made it sound. It worked, because it sends a tiny smile on her lips, looking as if she wished to scold him. “Considering the way you dress, I wouldn’t be surprised if you did.”

Joshua’s chuckling close-mouthed so as to not bark out laughter, much of the camp was still asleep of course, though Natasha still looks somewhat sullen.

“Hiding it seems like it’d be so much trouble...didn’t you ever consider an eyepatch?”

“Once, but it isn’t my style.--”

(“Oh? Are we a pirate band now?” Caellach had said, _and laughed and laughed and laughed._ )

“--Why?”

“In Grado, we’re known for our glasswork. I’m sure after all this, you could hire an artisan to make you a fake one.”

“... A fake eye?” The concept was foreign to him. How in the world does that work?

“Yes... I’ve only heard of them in passing, but it’s been a practice in Grado for many years.” She sounds, wistful, as she always does when she speaks of her home, smiling softly. “They can even make the colors match.”

“You just put it in, easy as that?”

“Yes... You won’t see through it, I’m afraid. But the particularly skilled men have made ones that move with the other eye before... I-it’s just a suggestion, of course.”

Joshua gives a thoughtful hum, arms thrown back behind his head as he lowers himself back on his cot. It was comfy, with her sitting beside him. To be fair, the idea doesn’t sound too bad. Popping something back into the socket seems like it would be...weird. But if he could adjust to having only eye, he could surely adjust to that.

“I’ll consider it.” He smiles. “When I visit Grado after the war, anyways.”

“You’d better. Visit, I mean.” At that, Natasha pushes herself up, readjusting the cloak she’d put over her nightclothes. “Regardless, I apologize for this sudden visit...hopefully next time, it won’t be on impulse.... And you’ll have clothes on.”

As she leaves, he looks down, the sheets pooled around his waist his only sense of modesty. Giving a wry grin to no one in particular, he decides to make that a promise. The eye part, of course.

(And he did, seeing to it that Jehanna and Grado could aid each other as best as could be done while he was there. When he returned, it was with a wife, and two eyes.)

**Author's Note:**

> 'Ectblepharons' was the name given to the first prosthetic eyes, invented in Egypt by priests. The more you know.


End file.
